Gov. Asa Hutchinson stated his “expectations… for the state of Arkansas to be creative in [coming up with] additional revenue streams for developing our highway infrastructure.” Given his aversion to funding highways by raising the fuel tax on those who actually use them, that leaves only two alternatives for funding more highway construction to subsidize the real estate developers’ new subdivisions: shifting general revenues from other purposes, or the local Representative’s traditional primary function of funneling highway money from Washington. And a major part of those general revenues has already been diverted to bribe Lockheed Martin to locate in this state.

State Sen. Jason Rapert, one of the more virulently right-wing Tea Partiers in Arkansas, called for improvements in levees. The one thing definitely off the table for Rapert is making real estate developers, who build in flood-prone areas, pay the cost of such engineering projects.

The Reaganite/Cowboy model of American capitalism is in no way less government-reliant than the New Deal or Social Democratic variant. To the contrary: despite the “free enterprise” and “small government” rhetoric, its actual use of government power is even more nakedly brutal. The only “freedom” these people care about is the freedom of the local country club set to make decisions behind closed doors and line their own pockets — along with terrorizing and murdering “uppity” people of color and anyone whose sexual practices they disagree with.